You’ve heard it so much, it’s become cliché: it’s never too early or too late. But you’ve also seen the wreckage: people who jumped in too fast or changed too late to keep things going in the right direction. You’ve watched them crash and burn, and you promised – you outright swore – that would not be you. If you’ve made that promise to yourself, you could always use some inspiration. Here are some examples of young CEOs who made it work.
Cory Nieves opened Cory’s Cookies at the age of six. Yes, you read that right. Six years old. Now twelve, the CEO has been in business literally half his life, and he can’t even legally get his learner’s permit. Ironically, his success story began because of a car … or a lack thereof. Cory hated taking the bus, so he told his mom he would help her raise money to buy a car. He started by selling hot cocoa in his hometown of Englewood New Jersey. One goal down, he expanded into lemonade and cookies to save cash for college. People loved the cookies, so he built a website to sell his special recipe, made with no preservatives and lots of love. Just goes to show, when you have a great product and a great story, people will line up to buy.
Leanna Archer loved her grandmother’s all-natural pomade. Others did too, so the eight-year-old started giving some away in jars. That expanded, and now she sells her all-natural hair product, as well as a line of skin products and shampoos across the world. Leanna’s Essentials has been recognized in Forbes and Success magazines, and the middle schooler is in the process of launching a charitable foundation to build schools and safe places for kids to play and grow in Haiti. Leanna took a great product and introduced to a market she understood very well. This smart business acumen allowed her to achieve high levels of success before even reaching high school. And it’s a simple formula for success in any business.
Jaden Wheeler and Amaya Selmon loved snow cones, so they started making and selling them out of their home in Memphis back in 2011. Word got around, and soon these two young entrepreneurs were having trouble keeping up with business. They asked their mom to help them purchase a food truck. She did, and their product was a big hit. Now in their mid-teens, these two industrious kids are the youngest food truck owners in the entire city of Memphis. They practiced this key business truth: find something people love and give them as much of it as they will pay for.
Neha Gupta turned her family tradition into a major charity work. As a young child her family always returned to India on her birthday to bring food and gifts to orphans in their hometown. Then, at the age of nine, Neha decided she would do something more. She began selling homemade gifts door-to-door in an effort to raise money to send schoolbooks and other educational tools to these orphans, in an effort to help them year-round, not just on her birthday. This door-to-door fundraising grew into Empower Orphans, which has now led nearly 30 different major projects, raising more than $1.6 million for Indian orphans. The lesson here: find something you’re passionate about and connect like-minded people to the cause.
You’ve heard it so much, it’s become cliché: it’s never too early or too late. But you’ve also seen the wreckage: people who jumped in too fast or changed too late to keep things going in the right direction. You’ve watched them crash and burn, and you promised – you outright swore – that would not be you. If you’ve made that promise to yourself, you could always use some inspiration. Here are some examples of young CEOs who made it work.
Cory Nieves opened Cory’s Cookies at the age of six. Yes, you read that right. Six years old. Now twelve, the CEO has been in business literally half his life, and he can’t even legally get his learner’s permit. Ironically, his success story began because of a car … or a lack thereof. Cory hated taking the bus, so he told his mom he would help her raise money to buy a car. He started by selling hot cocoa in his hometown of Englewood New Jersey. One goal down, he expanded into lemonade and cookies to save cash for college. People loved the cookies, so he built a website to sell his special recipe, made with no preservatives and lots of love. Just goes to show, when you have a great product and a great story, people will line up to buy.
Leanna Archer loved her grandmother’s all-natural pomade. Others did too, so the eight-year-old started giving some away in jars. That expanded, and now she sells her all-natural hair product, as well as a line of skin products and shampoos across the world. Leanna’s Essentials has been recognized in Forbes and Success magazines, and the middle schooler is in the process of launching a charitable foundation to build schools and safe places for kids to play and grow in Haiti. Leanna took a great product and introduced to a market she understood very well. This smart business acumen allowed her to achieve high levels of success before even reaching high school. And it’s a simple formula for success in any business.
Jaden Wheeler and Amaya Selmon loved snow cones, so they started making and selling them out of their home in Memphis back in 2011. Word got around, and soon these two young entrepreneurs were having trouble keeping up with business. They asked their mom to help them purchase a food truck. She did, and their product was a big hit. Now in their mid-teens, these two industrious kids are the youngest food truck owners in the entire city of Memphis. They practiced this key business truth: find something people love and give them as much of it as they will pay for.
Neha Gupta turned her family tradition into a major charity work. As a young child her family always returned to India on her birthday to bring food and gifts to orphans in their hometown. Then, at the age of nine, Neha decided she would do something more. She began selling homemade gifts door-to-door in an effort to raise money to send schoolbooks and other educational tools to these orphans, in an effort to help them year-round, not just on her birthday. This door-to-door fundraising grew into Empower Orphans, which has now led nearly 30 different major projects, raising more than $1.6 million for Indian orphans. The lesson here: find something you’re passionate about and connect like-minded people to the cause.
Written by
Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces reporting, research, and analysis across thirty verticals — communications, reputation, AI visibility, public affairs, media systems, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era. Publishing since 2009.
Other news
See all
Editorial Team · 05/25/2026
Why the Best Digital Marketing in 2026 Feels Human Again
For the better part of the last decade, digital marketing has been defined by one word: efficiency. Marketers optimized everything. Audiences were segmented into increasingly granular cohorts. Creative was tested, iterated, and refined at scale. Entire strategies were built around performance dashboards—click-through rates, conversion rates, cost per acquisition. It was a golden age of precision. And yet, something got lost along the way. Scroll through any social platform today and you’ll encounter a paradox: marketing has never been more targeted, yet it has never felt more invisible. Ads are technically excellent, but emotionally vacant. Campaigns perform, but they rarely linger. Brands reach people, but they struggle to move them. This is the defining tension of digital marketing in 2026.
Editorial Team · 05/25/2026
The SAFE Banking Communications Playbook (Updated Q2 2026)
SAFE Banking has been "almost passing" for seven years. The communications stakes just got higher. Schedule III rescheduling raised institutional investor interest. The operators that build the right banking narrative now win citation share — whether SAFER passes or doesn't.
Editorial Team · 05/25/2026
280E Repeal Communications: What MSOs Should Be Saying Right Now
280E has crushed cannabis P&Ls for fifteen years. The April 23 Schedule III order ended it — for some operators. The MSOs that communicate the partial repeal with discipline win the post-rescheduling citation graph. The rest don't.
Never Miss a Headline
Daily PR headlines, weekly long-form analysis, and our proprietary research drops — straight to your inbox.